


i'll make a cup of coffee, with the right amount of sugar

by bothsexuals



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23269183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bothsexuals/pseuds/bothsexuals
Summary: "Either stop staring at that dude or go talk to him.” She shoved him to the side, taking his place at the sink. “Just stop it with the whole... yearning thing.”“I am not yearning," he countered.“Yeah, you are,” she continued, handing him a mug to dry, “you’re all ‘Oh my sweet prince whose name I don’t know, when will you come sweep me off my feet since I am too dumb to talk to you first?’ It’s infuriating.”“I don’t yearn," he scoffed.“Whatever you say, dumbass,” Nico shrugged, clearly unconvinced.or:A coffee shop au starring Alex and Chase as the two lovesick nerds and Nico as the best friend who has to deal with all that.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Alex Wilder, Nico Minoru & Alex Wilder
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	i'll make a cup of coffee, with the right amount of sugar

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Welcome to another AlexChase fic. I have decided to singlehandedly fill their damn tag, apparently. The inspiration behind this is: what ship doesn't have a coffee shop au? Couldn't leave my best boys hanging. Also, that one photo of Rhenzy looking absolutely gorgeous as he wears an apron. You know the one. Enjoy!
> 
> Title from beabadoobee's "Coffee".

“Jesus, will you stop?” Nico quipped as she set down a tray full of empty mugs.

“What?” Alex asked, switching his focus back to the cup he was supposed to be cleaning, which was exactly what he had been doing before getting distracted by the extremely good looking customer sitting at the table right in front of him. I mean, he thought, if you’re gonna look like that at least have the decency to sit at a less visible table so the rest of us can get our jobs done. 

“You know what. Either stop staring at that dude or go talk to him.” She shoved him to the side, taking his place at the sink. “Just stop it with the whole... yearning thing.” 

“I am not yearning," he countered. 

“Yeah, you are," she continued, handing him a mug to dry, “You’re all ‘Oh my sweet prince whose name I don’t know, when will you come sweep me off my feet since I am too dumb to talk to you first?’ It’s infuriating.” 

“I don’t yearn,” he scoffed.

“Whatever you say, dumbass,” Nico shrugged, clearly unconvinced.

A customer arrived before Alex could think of a comeback, and he turned his attention to them. He smiled politely, took their order and made their drink, then turned back to Nico, who had finished cleaning up and was pouring herself a cup of coffee. 

“Look, okay, maybe I think he’s cute. What’s the big deal? I can just… appreciate someone’s looks,” he says, maybe a little too defensively. 

“Alex, you’ve been ‘appreciating his looks’ for weeks. Maybe it’s time to make a move. You could start by not running away every time he shows up, leaving me to take his damn order.” 

“I don’t run away, I… calmly saunter towards another task," he pointedly corrected her.

“Either way. He’s coming here and I am _not_ taking his order right now.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively, then headed to the backroom, leaving a lone Alex behind the counter.

“Hello.” He smiled at the man in front of him, mentally patting himself on the back for how calm he sounded despite how much he was secretly panicking. “How can I help you?” 

“Can I get some more coffee but uh-” he paused as if trying to remember something “-put it in the biggest mug you’ve got and fill it to the brim,” he recited as if reading from a script.

“Damn,” Alex chuckled, “you good, man?” 

“Yeah,” he replied with a small laugh, “my friend and I are working on a school project and she threatened to cut my head off if I don’t get her a refill of that exact order. She’s a little stressed out.” 

Alex filled the biggest mug he could find with freshly brewed coffee and his gaze travelled past the man and towards the purple-haired girl sitting at their table, nervously flipping through three different books as she waited for her friend to return with her drink. He frowned. “You sure she needs more coffee?” 

“Absolutely not. But I am very afraid of what will happen to me if I don’t bring it to her. Of course there’s also the chance that this refill will give her the boost she needs to finally snap and murder me, so. It’s a lose-lose situation.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking a little stressed out himself and Alex felt a twinge of sympathy.

He handed him the mug and raised a hand to stop him when he started to reach for his wallet. “On the house. Good luck with your project. _And_ your murderous friend.”

“Wow.” He breathed. “Thank you so much…” He glanced down at Alex’s name tag, then looked back up with a grateful smile. “Alex.”

Alex smiled back, feeling all kinds of warm inside, and nodded, then let out a long breath as the man walked back to his friend. 

Nico returned from the backroom after a minute. 

“How’d it go, dumbass?”

“Good.” He beamed. “I think it went very well.” 

“Cool.” She grabbed a muffin and took a bite out of it, leaning on the counter. “So, what’s his name?” 

Right. He kind of forgot about that. 

“Seriously, Wilder?” she snapped seeing the way his face fell, “When will you stop letting me down?” 

“You expect too much from me, Minoru,” he muttered as he grabbed a rag and went to wipe down an already clean table to escape his friend’s mocking. 

“And yet I expect so little!” she fired back before turning on her customer-service face and focusing on the couple that had just walked in.

  


***

  


The man whose name Alex forgot to ask (but he would _not_ make that mistake again!) came to the shop again a couple days later, this time accompanied by a slightly younger looking, curly haired girl. 

“He’s here," he hissed, turning to Nico. 

“Your hair looks terrible,” she deadpanned, not even glancing at him.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I thought that’s what you were askin,” she shrugged, “what do you want from me?” 

“How the hell do I casually ask for his name?” He spared a quick look towards the man, who was talking to his friend and hadn’t seemed to notice the awful customer service.

“Since when am I your Human Interactions 101 teacher? Go do your job and maybe flirt a little.” She grabbed a cookie ( _seriously, was she allowed to take all that food?_ ) and walked away.

Alex sighed and stepped to the register. 

“Hello! How can I help you today?” he finally addressed the man and his friend.

“Hello,” the girl replied before he could say anything, “I would like a hot chocolate with a lot of whipped cream, and i mean a _lot_... and he will take a boring coffee or something.”

“Yep,” he confirmed, looking right at Alex with a grin, “thanks, Alex.” 

_Oh. Fuck._

First of all, how dare he look at Alex like that while he was trying to work?! And second of all, Alex had forgotten his name tag that day which meant… he remembered his name. So that was totally cool and chill and Alex was absolutely not freaking out. 

Suddenly, he had a stroke of genius as a group of four entered the shop, giving him the perfect excuse to start enforcing the names-on-paper-cups policy.

“That’ll be 4.50. Can I get a name?” he addressed them again, desperately trying to keep his cool. 

“Nice,” he heard Nico whisper from behind him. 

“I’m Molly,” the girl answered as the man paid for the drinks. “he’s Chase.” 

Alex grabbed the cups for their drinks as Nico took his place at the register and started to take the other customers’ orders. 

After a couple of seconds, Molly perked up again. “Wait, Chase, I also want a cookie.” 

“I _just_ put my wallet away, Molls,” he complained. 

“Fine, I’ll starve,” she said pointedly. 

“With all that whipped cream? Yeah, I doubt it,” he replied and she stuck his tongue out at him. 

Alex overheard this and had another stroke of genius. He grabbed two cookies and placed them on their tray -hey, if Nico could have all the food and coffee she wanted, he could take two extra cookies to try and get himself a man- and felt incredibly bold as he added a heart next to Chase’s name on the cup. 

“Molly and Chase,” he called once their order was ready, and handed them the tray. He couldn’t help but smile when Molly gasped at the sight of the cookies.

“You’re the best!” she exclaimed,“Thank you so much! Isn’t he the best, Chase?”

Alex saw Chase’s gaze drop to his cup and he felt his cheeks heat up, realizing that he was noticing the heart he had drawn on it. His own heart skipped a beat when he looked up at him again with a blinding smile.

“Yeah, Molls, he is,” he said, then the two of them turned away to find a table to sit. 

Alex blew out a long exhale as Nico appeared beside him. 

“Very nice,” she commented with an appreciative nod, then handed him two full cups, “back to work, loverboy. And go find some empty mugs, I don’t wanna use all this paper just ‘cause you had to flirt. The planet is dying.” 

  


***

  


The next day, Nico was working the cash register when Chase entered the shop again, alone this time.

“Back so soon? I wonder why.” She raised her eyebrows with an obvious glance at Alex.

“Sorry about her,” Alex apologized, walking past Chase, “she has no filter.”

He heard him laugh before moving out of earshot and tried not to worry too much about what Nico might be saying while he was busy cleaning up a table. 

“Can I sit here?” someone asked as he placed the napkin holder at the center of the now clean table.

He raised his head to look at them and _of course. He should have expected this._

“Of course,” he stammered, somehow feeling completely unprepared for the interaction, despite having just seen and even talked to the man, “I just cleaned it, so… should be perfect.” 

He smiled nervously. 

_Why the hell was he so nervous?_

“Who should I complain to if it isn’t?” Chase asked with a cheeky grin, and took a step closer to Alex.

Well, to the table, technically, but the result was that he was very, _very_ close to Alex, and Alex was suddenly very, _very_ aware of the fact that this was their first conversation without a counter-shaped buffer in between them. Which of course meant that he was also very aware of how Chase was slightly taller than him, and of how damn beautiful his eyes looked from up close, and oh- right. Of the fact that Alex had been staring at him like a lovesick idiot instead of answering his question. 

“You can take any complaints directly to me. You know, so I can hide them from my manager,” he joked, trying to keep his cool, which always proved to be very hard around the other man. 

Chase laughed and sat, pulling out a textbook from his backpack. 

“Alright, I’ll make sure to do that,” he replied, looking at Alex in a way that made him completely lose his cool (if he ever had any to start with.)

“I uh- gotta go,” he stuttered, “y’know- customers.” He waved vaguely towards the counter before bolting, leaving a confused Chase behind. 

“Welcome back, dumbass,” Nico greeted him as he stepped behind the counter and groaned. “What’d you do?” 

“I don’t even know… Why does he look like that? Is that legal?” 

“I think it is, but I can do some research. Here.” She handed him a mug full of tea.

“What is this?” He looked at it suspiciously, not yet taking it.

“This is his tea,” Nico replied matter-of-factly.

“His as in-” 

“Pretty boy over there.” 

“Huh. Okay. I’ll be here, then.” He stepped towards the register in what he hoped (but didn’t really believe) was a casual manner.

She grabbed his arm and shoved the mug in his hands. “I don’t think so, Wilder.” 

He glared at her. “I hate you, you know that?” 

“Mhm,” she hummed, “go get your man.” 

Knowing that this was a fight he couldn’t win -like most fights against Nico were, his best friend was very strong willed- Alex started walking towards the table where Chase sat, looking absolutely adorable as he read a passage of his book with a furrowed brow. He set down his tea and Chase startled at the sound it made. 

“Sorry,” Alex immediately apologized, “I didn’t want to distract you. You looked very focused.” 

Chase huffed out a tired laugh, picking up the mug and blowing on it before taking a small sip. 

“I looked confused, you can just say that.”

“Weeeell… I was trying to be nice,” Alex replied with a playful grimace, now earning a genuine, more relaxed laugh from Chase. 

“It’s this math thing I just can’t wrap my head around. I’ve been reading the same page since yesterday, and _nothing_ ,” he groaned. 

“Well… I’m pretty good at math. Maybe I can help,” Alex offered.

“Really?” Chase’s eyes lit up and he beamed, then frowned. “Wait, I don’t wanna take you away from your work.” 

Alex shrugged. 

“It’s kind of a slow day, I’m sure Nico won’t mind if I take a small break,” he reasoned with a glance towards his friend who was leaning on the counter, eating a slice of cheesecake and scrolling through her phone. 

“Well, if you can, I would love some help, ” Chase said, his concerned look replaced once again by a smile. 

“Alright!” Alex took off his apron, folded it and placed it on the back of the chair next to Chase’s, which he then sat on. “Hit me.” 

A half hour or so later Alex had successfully explained the concept to Chase and walked him through a couple of exercises to make sure he understood it.

“Hey, nerds. You done?” He raised his head to look at Nico, who had addressed them ever so sweetly. “The hipster crowd is coming in and I need your help," she added to Alex.

“You can go, I think I got it. Sorry I kept you for so long,” Chase told him right away.

“That’s alright, it was fun,” Alex replied with a smile, standing up and putting his apron back on. 

Nico scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, nerd. Come on, turbo time, let’s go!” She snapped her fingers at him then walked back to the counter in a hurry. 

Alex took Chase’s now empty mug. "I'll get you a refill.”

He went to follow Nico, missing Chase’s small smile and the soft look in his eyes as he watched him walk away.

“So,” Nico asked when they had taken everyone’s order and were making the last of the drinks, “you have fun with your man?” 

“He’s not my man,” he corrected her, “and we were doing maths.”

“So you had fun, then,” she concluded.

“I had fun,” he agreed. 

“That’s what I like to hear, Wilder. Now you can continue to have fun by bringing these-” she shoved a tray towards him “-to that table over there.” She pointed it out with a nod. 

“Yes, ma’am. And I will also bring _this_ -”he grabbed the cup of tea he had just made and placed it on the tray “-to Chase.” 

Nico nodded, impressed. “Alright, Wilder’s got game now!” 

He brought the drinks to the table Nico had told him, then tried his best to hold back a smile as he approached Chase’s table and set his tea in front of him. 

“You’re staying a long time today,” he pointed out, casually (he hoped) leaning on a chair.

“The company is nice,” Chase replied with a smirk.

Alex hummed. “You’re talking about Nico, right?” he joked.

“Oh, yeah, definitely. She’s always so sweet to me,” Chase played along, sipping his tea.

“That’s just how she is. A sparkly ball of positivity.” 

Chase laughed, then opened his mouth as if about to say something, but his phone chimed before he could. He looked at it and frowned. 

“Dammit. I gotta go.” He hastily stood up and collected his things. “Thank you for everything, Alex.” He smiled. “You were very helpful.” 

“No problem, man. Come back soon.” He cringed internally at how lame and desperate he sounded.

But Chase’s smile grew and he simply replied, “I will,” before rushing to the exit. 

He picked up the half-empty cup of tea and brought it back behind the counter, emptying it in the sink with a sigh. 

“Why did I just see your boy running away?” Nico asked, poking his side. 

“Dunno,” he answered, “he got a text and suddenly had to go.”

“It was probably that hot purple-haired girl,” she speculated with a shrug, “he seemed pretty scared of her.”

Alex hummed in agreement. 

“Well he did say he’d come back soon.”

  


***

  


So that was a lie. 

Four days had passed and Chase was nowhere to be seen. Now, Alex didn’t want to be clingy, but he _did_ say soon, right? Over four days was not soon.

“Stop moping,” Nico quipped, hitting him with a towel. 

“I’m not moping,” he whined. 

“Now you’re whining,” she pointed out.

“I’m not whining,” he whined again. 

“He’ll be back, loverboy. Have a cookie.” She handed him one and he grumpily bit into it.

“I just don’t understand,” he said around a mouthful of cookie.

“Gross. Swallow first, then speak,” Nico ordered, and he complied.

“I don’t understand,” he continued, “what soon even means. That’s such a generic statement. A month could be soon. What’s the parameter here?” 

“Are you always this annoying?” Nico mockingly asked.

“I don’t know, you tell me.” 

“Nah, sometimes you’re cool. Listen, he’ll be back and you can make nerd babies together. Now let’s close up and then we can get some dinner. I’m starving.” She tossed him a rag and they started cleaning up. 

“I just thought we were, you know… vibing.” Alex reflected while sweeping the floor a few minutes later.

“Ew. Don’t say that. But yes, you were getting along well,” Nico conceded as she put away the last of the cups and dishes. 

“So why hasn’t he come back?” he moaned, earning a sneer from Nico. 

“Maybe he’s got better things to do than spend all his time at a coffee shop for a cute boy,” she reasoned. 

“Aww, you think I’m cute?” he teased, “I’m blushing.”

“I can’t stand you,” she dead-panned, but laughed when Alex winked ridiculously at her.

“All done, boss,” Alex announced once he finished cleaning the floors.

“Same here, let’s go.” They took off their aprons and put on their jackets. 

“Come on.” Nico put an arm around Alex’s shoulder as they left the shop. “I’m sure he’ll come by tomorrow," she reassured him. 

  


***

  


“Are you a psychic?” Alex appeared beside Nico and poked her in the side to catch her attention.

Nico turned to him, confused but nonetheless prepared to play along.

“No, I’m a witch, you know this. Why?” she replied, smacking him with the rag she was holding for good measure. He nodded towards the direction of the door with a waggle of his eyebrows and she followed his gaze, noticing who had just walked in. 

“Your boy is here!” she exclaimed with a smile. “See, I told you!” 

He shushed her immediately. “Be quiet, he’s right there!” 

“I know, maybe someone should take his order, huh?” she calmly observed.

“Yeah,” he agreed absent-mindedly, still looking in Chase’s direction, then the words sank in and he started, “oh, right, I should take his order, that’s my job.” 

“Smart boy,” Nico teased and hit him with the rag again as he stepped to the cash register .

“Hello,” Chase addressed him with an adorable lopsided smile. 

“Hey,” he replied with a dreamy look in his eyes (he would never admit it, but that’s exactly what it was). 

They stood there, silently smiling at each other for a few seconds, then Nico cut in with a groan. 

“Oh my god. Please. What the hell do you wanna drink?” she bluntly asked Chase. 

“Nico, that is not how you talk to customers,” Alex chastised her, and she simply rolled her eyes, unbothered. 

“That’s alright, sorry,” Chase mumbled, appearing embarrassed, “I’ll just have a latte, thanks.” 

He quietly took the money out of his wallet to pay and handed it to Nico. 

“Go sit down, I’ll bring it to you,” Alex told him with a smile. Chase simply nodded with a tightlipped smile and went to sit at the nearest free table. 

“What the hell?” Alex turned to Nico as soon as Chase left, clearly upset. 

“What? I am right and I should say it,” she replied, still totally unbothered.

“No, you shouldn’t! Stop scaring off the guy I-” he trailed off “-stop being rude to customers!” 

Nico grinned and stepped closer to him as he felt blood furiously rush to his cheeks. 

“The guy you what?” she teased. 

“Nothing,” he turned his head to the side, avoiding eye contact, but she jumped in his line of sight again. 

“The guy you like? The guy you have a huge crush on? The guy you still haven’t asked out for some idiotic reason? The options are endless, Alex, help me out.” 

He groaned, praying for a customer to walk in so he could get out of the conversation. 

Of course, no one did. 

“Okay, fine, yes to all of those. Stop being mean to him," he uttered quickly.

“Yeah, I can’t promise that,” she shrugged, laughing. 

Alex leaned on the counter, sighing in defeat. Nico tapped his shoulder, smirking, and he looked at her questioningly. 

“You know he’s still waiting for his latte, right?” she whispered, sounding amused. 

Alex’s eyes widened and he messily rushed to the coffee machine, accidentally knocking a couple paper cups off the counter. 

“I love my job," a delighted Nico said to herself, enjoying the show. 

“Hey, are you making a foam heart?” she pointed out, peering over Alex’s shoulder. 

“Leave me alone," he muttered through gritted teeth. 

“I will not. That’s adorable, ask him out,” she continued to pester him. 

“I am!” he exclaimed, a little too loudly, earning a confused look by a few customers. 

Alex and Nico both gave an apologetic smile before diving back into their conversation. 

“Are you gonna do it now?” she excitedly asked.

“I don’t know," he groaned, "maybe. I don’t know!” 

“To quote a very famous shoe brand and, more importantly, Shia LaBeouf: just do it! What are you so afraid of? He clearly likes you!” 

“Does he? Maybe I’ve just been reading the signs wrong.” 

“You haven’t.” 

“Or have I?” 

“No.” 

“But maybe.” 

“Nope.” 

“You don’t know.”

“Okay, let’s ask him.” 

Nico took the latte from Alex’s hands and started walking towards Chase’s table.

“Wait. What are you- Nico!” Alex called after her and started to follow, but he was immediately stopped by a customer needing a refill.

Nico reached the table, unceremoniously set the cup in front of Chase and put on her best customer service smile, unable to hide the small note of mischief in it.

“Sorry it took so long," she told him, “I guess Alex wanted to make it perfect.” 

“Oh that’s-” he turned towards her so quickly she thought he might have hurt his neck “-Alex made this?”

“Sure did. Notice the heart?” she pointed out with a wink. 

Chase nodded, blushing furiously. 

He opened his mouth to say something, but Alex reached the table before he could. 

“Hi. Hello. Nico.” He fixed her with one of those if-looks-could-kill kind of looks, then melted into a sweet smile as he addressed the other man, “Hello, Chase.” 

“Hey,” Chase breathed, then cleared his throat, “uh. Thank you for the latte.” 

“Well, you know. Kind of my job,” Alex replied with a bashful smile. 

“Anyways,” Nico cut in, “Alex has a question for you.” 

“He does?” 

“I do?”

“Either you do or I do," Nico hissed to Alex. 

“Fine. Nico, please leave us,” Alex finally gave in. 

“No problem, I’ll be eavesdropping from over there." She gave them a polite smile and took a few steps back, pretending to be busy at a nearby table. 

Alex rolled his eyes, then looked at Chase, who seemed understandably confused, and gestured to a chair. 

“Can I sit?” Chase nodded, and Alex did. “Okay. So. I don’t really know how to do this but-” 

“Do you wanna go on a date with me?” Chase interrupted him, the sentence coming out too quick and a little bit louder than intended. 

“You-” Alex stammered, completely taken aback. He was _not_ expecting this. 

“I like you. Please go on a date with me?” Chase reiterated, calmer and quieter this time. 

Alex chuckled in disbelief. 

“Of course! I was trying to ask _you_ out!” 

Chase laughed, relieved. “You were?” 

“Yeah! I was so nervous. The foam heart was my way of flirting with you," he confessed, unable to stop smiling. 

“Well… I guess it worked,” Chase replied, grinning.

“I guess so,” Alex agreed. 

They gazed at each other, both of them unable to tear their eyes away from the other’s.

After a few seconds, Alex shook his head slightly, as if to snap himself out of it. 

“I get off in an hour,” he told Chase, “we could take a walk. Get dinner.” 

Chase nodded, beaming. “I’ll be here," he assured Alex. 

Alex nodded, a bright smile mirroring Chase’s own. 

They gazed at each other again for a few seconds, until Alex had to snap himself out of his lovesick daze again when he heard a customer walk in. Standing up, he looked down at Chase and bit his lip. 

“I’ll see you in an hour, then,” he said softly. 

“Okay,” Chase replied just as softly, almost a whisper, his smile not fading for a second. 

Alex forced himself to turn away from Chase and walked back to the counter, wondering if the exchange had really happened or if he was actually still asleep and that had all been a dream. 

Nico smirked as he took his place next to her behind the counter. 

“Told you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this, if you did please leave a comment and/or kudos because one comment/kudos = one absolutely delighted fic author.


End file.
